Systems and methods for determining and improving a parking position

ABSTRACT

The disclosure describes systems and methods for determining and adjusting a parking position of a vehicle. In particular, the vehicle may determine a first parking space where the vehicle can move to a second parking space and exit the second parking space in a forward direction.

BACKGROUND

For larger vehicles, such as sport utility vehicles and trucks, parkingin a designated parking space may be difficult. In particular, reversingfrom a parking space can be difficult because of the space required. Inaddition, larger vehicles tend to take up more of a parking spaceleaving little space between the vehicle and other vehicles on eitherside of the vehicle. It is with respect to these and otherconsiderations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. The use of the same reference numerals may indicate similar oridentical items. Various embodiments may utilize elements and/orcomponents other than those illustrated in the drawings, and someelements and/or components may not be present in various embodiments.Elements and/or components in the figures are not necessarily drawn toscale. Throughout this disclosure, depending on the context, singularand plural terminology may be used interchangeably.

FIG. 1 depicts a vehicle in a parking lot environment in accordance withthe present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts the vehicle including vehicle systems in accordance withthe present disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts a method of determining and adjusting a parking positionin accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

The systems and methods disclosed herein are configured to determine andadjust a parking position. In particular, the vehicle may determine afirst parking space where the vehicle can move to a second parking spaceand exit the second parking space in a forward direction.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a vehicle 100 may initially determine if there isan open parking space in a parking environment 102 that allows thevehicle 100 pull forward into the parking space and to exit the parkingspace in a forward direction (e.g., two aligned open parking spaceswhere the vehicle 100 can pull through).

To make this determination, the vehicle 100 may communicate with a RSU104 or other vehicles 112, 114, 116, 118 using a vehicle-to-everything(V2V, V2X) communication standard. Particularly, the vehicle 100 mayreceive parking environment data 106 pertaining to the parkingenvironment 102 including the locations of parking spaces, theoccupation status of parking spaces, the predicted status of parkingspaces (e.g., if occupied, time that paid parking will expire or basedon length of occupancy or driver history), the type of vehicle (e.g.,manually driven or autonomous vehicle) occupying a parking space,combinations thereof, and the like. The data 106 may also includeobjects (e.g., trailers, generators, storage containers, etc.) that arepermanent or not predicted to move or the vehicle 100 may use objectrecognition features to identify such objects.

If an open space that allows the vehicle 100 to pull forward into aparking space and to exit in a forward direction is not available, thevehicle 100 may determine if there is an open parking space in theparking environment 102 with one or more longitudinally aligned parkingspaces that are occupied but predicted to be unoccupied before thevehicle 100 is predicted to exit.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the parking environment 102 may include aplurality of parking spaces including a first parking space 120, asecond parking space 122, a third parking space 124, a fourth parkingspace 126 and a fifth parking space 128. The parking spaces 120, 122,124 are longitudinally aligned such that the vehicle 100 can move (e.g.,auntonomously) forward or backward in a straight line between theparking spaces 120, 122, 124. The parking spaces 120, 126, 128 arelaterally aligned.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the parking spaces 120, 122, 126, 128 are in amiddle bank 130 of parking spaces with a driving lane 132, 134 on eitherside of the middle bank 130. The third parking space 124 is in an outerbank 136 of parking spaces. The driving lane 132 is between the middlebank 130 and the outer bank 136.

In FIG. 1 , vehicle 100 determines that the first parking space 120 isunoccupied and that the parking spaces 122, 124 are occupied by vehicles112, 114 but are predicted to be unoccupied, for example, within athreshold amount of time. The vehicle 100 thereby selects the firstparking space 120 and generates instructions to pull forward into thefirst parking space 120.

The vehicle 100 may determine a lateral alignment in the parking space120. In particular, the vehicle 100 may align itself off-center in thefirst parking space 120 if one of vehicles 116, 118 inlaterally-adjacent parking spaces 126, 128 is an autonomous vehicle andthe other of the vehicles 116, 118 is a manually driven vehicle. Thevehicle 100 may park closer (e.g., offset from the center of firstparking space 120) to the autonomous vehicle to prevent damage from aperson entering or exiting the manually driven vehicle.

Once parked in the first parking space 120, the vehicle 100 determine ifthe vehicle 100 can move to position the vehicle 100 for a forward exit.The vehicle 100 monitors longitudinally aligned parking spaces 122, 124to determine when one of the parking spaces is unoccupied. For example,the vehicle 100 may determine that one of the parking spaces 122, 124 isunoccupied through communicating with the RSU 104 (which may track theoccupancy of the spaces with data 106), through communication with thevehicles 112, 114 using a vehicle-to-everything (V2V, V2X) communicationstandard, and/or through the use of cameras or other sensors. Once oneof the longitudinally and aligned parking spaces 122, 124 is unoccupied,the vehicle 100 generates instructions to autonomously move to theunoccupied space and the vehicle moves to the unoccupied space.

For example, if the space 122 is unoccupied, the vehicle 100 drivesforward and parks in space 122 until it is summoned and exits parkingspace 122 in a forward direction into driving lane 134. This may be doneautonomously. Alternatively, if the space 124 is unoccupied, the vehicle100 drives in reverse and parks in space 124 until it is summoned andexits parking space 124 in a forward direction into driving lane 132.

The vehicle may continue to look for opportunities to get closer byrepeating the steps mentioned above. For example, the vehicle mayautonomously reposition to a location near a parking lot exit orcustomer pickup point. If the vehicle is inside a multi-level parkinggarage, it may use the same method but move to a lower floor nearest theexit route. This can minimize the time it takes to reach the customerwhen summoned. Here, the vehicle may notify a driver of which floor thevehicle is on.

These and other advantages of the present disclosure are provided ingreater detail herein.

Illustrative Embodiments

The disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of thedisclosure are shown, and not intended to be limiting.

FIG. 1 illustrates a vehicle 100. The vehicle 100 may take the form of apassenger or commercial automobile such as, for example, a car, a truck,a sport utility, a crossover vehicle, a van, a minivan, a taxi, a bus,etc., and may be configured to include various types of automotive drivesystems. Example drive systems can include various types of internalcombustion engine (ICE) powertrains having a gasoline, diesel, ornatural gas-powered combustion engine with conventional drive componentssuch as, a transmission, a drive shaft, a differential, etc.

In another configuration, the vehicle 100 may be configured as anelectric vehicle (EV). More particularly, the vehicle 100 may include abattery EV (BEV) drive system. The vehicle 100 may be configured as ahybrid EV (HEV) having an independent onboard power plant or a plug-inHEV (PHEV) that includes a HEV powertrain connectable to an externalpower source (including a parallel or series hybrid powertrain having acombustion engine power plant and one or more EV drive systems). HEVscan include battery and/or super capacitor banks for power storage,flywheel power storage systems, or other power generation and storageinfrastructure.

The vehicle 100 may be further configured as a fuel cell vehicle (FCV)that converts liquid or solid fuel to usable power using a fuel cell,(e.g., a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) powertrain, etc.) and/or anycombination of these drive systems and components.

The vehicle 100 includes devices or sensors that are configured orprogrammed to generate signals that help identify a longitudinallyaligned parking space, devices or sensors to determine whether theparking space is occupied, and communication systems to determinewhether a vehicle is manually driven or autonomous.

The devices or sensors may include image sensors (e.g., cameras 140,150) mounted to the vehicle 100 to achieve visual perception. Eachcamera generates images 146, 156 of at least part of the environmentaround the vehicle 100. For purposes of clarity, a single camera is usedfor each direction. However, combinations of cameras may be used and thesensor data from multiple cameras may be fused together into a view ofthe environment around the vehicle.

Cameras 140, 150 can be mounted to face in the direction vehicle 100 ismoving (e.g., forward or backwards). For purposes of teaching, thecamera 140 (or a set of cameras) is a front-facing camera and the camera150 (or a set of cameras) is a rear-facing camera. In particular, Whenthe vehicle 100 pulls forward into the first parking space 120, thesecond parking space 122 and vehicle 112 are in the field of view of theforward-facing camera 140 (e.g, in the forward direction 144) and thethird parking space 124 and vehicle 114 are in the field of view (e.g.,in the rear facing direction 154) of the rear-facing camera 150.

The cameras 140, 150 each includes sensor components (e.g., a lens, anaperture, a shutter, a sensor plate, an IR emitter, an IR detector,etc.) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). ASIC caninclude digital signal processing (DSP) functionality to perform variousoperations on image sensor data captured by sensor components.

Cameras 140, 150 can be similar types, or even the same type, of camera.Cameras 140, 150 have fields-of-view that can be similar and possiblyeven essentially the same. Within fields-of-view, cameras 140, 150 canrespectively sense the parking environment 102 from the vehicle out to acertain distance threshold.

The cameras 140, 150 may be Red-Green-Blue/Infrared (RGB/IR) camerasthat can generate images 146, 156 where each image section includes aRed pixel, a Green pixel, a Blue pixel, and an IR pixel. The RGB pixelintensities are used when there is sufficient light (e.g., duringdaytime). The intensity information from the IR pixels can be usedduring the night as well as in other low (or no) light environments tosense parking environment 102. Low (or no) light environments caninclude tunnels or other environments where natural light is obstructed.

Alternatively, cameras 140, 150 may include other sensor components(e.g., a lens, an aperture, a shutter, a sensor plate, a laser, a sensorfor detecting laser reflections, etc.) and application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC). For example, camera 140, 150 may include amultipurpose time-of-flight (TOF) camera with a processing chip, suchas, for example, a Red-Green-Blue-Infrared (RGB-IR) complementarymetal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) chip. Similar to LiDAR sensor, thelaser emits a pulse of IR wavelength. A processing chip (e.g., withinASIC) reads the time-of-flight information to process depth of objects.The processing chip can set appropriate IR pixel intensity informationbased on object depths. LiDAR mode and IR pixel intensity can be usedduring the night, in other low (or no) light environments, or whenotherwise appropriate, to sense the parking environment 102.

The devices may also include sensors (e.g., sensor 160) such as a RadioDetection and Ranging (RADAR or “radar”) sensor configured for detectionand localization of objects using radio waves, a Light Detecting andRanging (LiDAR or “lidar”) sensor, ultrasonic sensors, an inertialmeasurement unit (IMU), a global positioning sensor (GPS), and othervision sensors for trajectory, obstacle detection, objectclassification, and the like. Using LiDAR sensors, objects can betracked based on three-dimensional (3D) point clouds.

Data from each camera 140, 150 and the LiDAR sensor 160 may be providedto a central sensor perception chip 170 of a vehicle computer 172.Perception chip 170 can be a general or special purpose processing unit,such as for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a GraphicsProcessing Unit (GPU), etc. Alternately or additionally, perception chipcan include logic circuits, such as, for example, an ASIC orField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). A perception algorithm runs onperception chip.

The central sensor perception chip 170 may use a sensor fusion orperception algorithm to fuse the data into a view of the parkingenvironment 102 around the vehicle 100 or otherwise process the data foruse in understanding and navigating the parking environment 102.

The perception algorithm may include a neural network architected inaccordance with a multi-layer (or “deep”) model. A multi-layer neuralnetwork model can include an input layer, a plurality of hidden layers,and an output layer. A multi-layer neural network model may also includea loss layer. The plurality of hidden layers can perform a number ofnon-linear transformations.

For classification of fused camera sensor data (e.g., an image), valuesin the sensor data (e.g., pixel-values) are assigned to input nodes andthen fed through the plurality of hidden layers of the neural network.

From the view of the parking environment 102, the perception algorithmcan process camera or sensor data to identify and classify objects ofinterest within parking environment 102. Object classifications caninclude: other vehicles, parking spaces or lines, signs, obstructions(e.g., shopping carts, pedestrians), etc. The perception algorithm canalso determine the location of an object within parking environment 102,the distance to the object, and if the object is moving, a path of theobject.

Referring to FIG. 2 , vehicle systems are described in greater detail.

The vehicle computer 172 includes computer components including a memory(e.g., memory 200) and a processor (e.g., a processor 202 and/or theperception chip 170). A processor may be any suitable processing deviceor set of processing devices such as, but not limited to: amicroprocessor, a microcontroller-based platform, a suitable integratedcircuit, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and/or oneor more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

A memory may be volatile memory (e.g., RAM, which can includenon-volatile RAM, magnetic RAM, ferroelectric RAM, and any othersuitable forms); non-volatile memory (e.g., disk memory, FLASH memory,EPROMs, EEPROMs, memristor-based non-volatile solid-state memory, etc.),unalterable memory (e.g., EPROMs), read-only memory, and/orhigh-capacity storage devices (e.g., hard drives, solid state drives,etc). In some examples, the memory includes multiple kinds of memory,particularly volatile memory and non-volatile memory.

Memory is computer readable media on which one or more sets ofinstructions, such as the software for performing the methods of thepresent disclosure, can be embedded. The instructions may embody one ormore of the methods or logic as described herein. The instructions mayreside completely, or at least partially, within any one or more of thememory, the computer readable medium, and/or within the processor duringexecution of the instructions.

The terms “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and“computer-readable medium” should be understood to include a singlemedium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database,and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets ofinstructions. The terms “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and“computer-readable medium” also include any tangible medium that iscapable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions forexecution by a processor or that cause a system to perform any one ormore of the methods or operations disclosed herein. As used herein, theterm “computer readable medium” is expressly defined to include any typeof computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to excludepropagating signals.

The VCU 300 includes a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) 310and is disposed in communication with the vehicle computer 172. The VCU300 may coordinate the data between vehicle systems, connected servers,and other vehicles operating as part of a vehicle fleet. The VCU 300 maycontrol aspects of the vehicle 100, and implement one or moreinstruction sets received from a vehicle system controller (such asvehicle computer 172) and/or received from a road side unit (RSU) 104.For example, the VCU 300 may control or include autonomous drivingsystems.

The VCU 300 can include or communicate with any combination of the ECUs310, such as, for example, a Body Control Module (BCM) 312, an EngineControl Module (ECM) 314, a Transmission Control Module (TCM) 316, theTelematics Control Unit (TCU) 318, a Restraint Control Module (RCM) 320,and the like. The TCU 318 may be disposed in communication with the ECUs310 by way of a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus 340. In some aspects,the TCU 318 may retrieve data and send data as a CAN bus 340 node.

The CAN bus 340 may be configured as a multi-master serial bus standardfor connecting two or more of the ECUs 310 as nodes using amessage-based protocol that can be configured and/or programmed to allowthe ECUs 310 to communicate with each other. The CAN bus 340 may be orinclude a high-speed CAN (which may have bit speeds up to 1 Mb/s on CAN,5 Mb/s on CAN Flexible Data Rate (CAN FD)), and can include a low-speedor fault tolerant CAN (up to 125 Kbps), which may, in someconfigurations, use a linear bus configuration. In some aspects, theECUs 310 may communicate with a host computer (e.g., the vehiclecomputer 172, the RSU 104, and/or server(s), etc.), and may alsocommunicate with one another without the necessity of a host computer.

The CAN bus 340 may connect the ECUs 310 with the vehicle computer 172such that the vehicle computer 172 may retrieve information from, sendinformation to, and otherwise interact with the ECUs 310 to performsteps described according to embodiments of the present disclosure. TheCAN bus 340 may connect CAN bus nodes (e.g., the ECUs 310) to each otherthrough a two-wire bus, which may be a twisted pair having a nominalcharacteristic impedance. The CAN bus 340 may also be accomplished usingother communication protocol solutions, such as Media Oriented SystemsTransport (MOST) or Ethernet. In other aspects, the CAN bus 340 may be awireless intra-vehicle CAN bus.

The VCU 300 may control various loads directly via the CAN bus 340communication or implement such control in conjunction with the BCM 312.The ECUs 310 described with respect to the VCU 300 are provided forexemplary purposes only, and are not intended to be limiting orexclusive. Control and/or communication with other control modules ispossible, and such control is contemplated.

The ECUs 310 may control aspects of vehicle operation and communicationusing inputs from human drivers, inputs from a vehicle systemcontroller, and/or via wireless signal inputs received via wirelesschannel(s) from other connected devices. The ECUs 310, when configuredas nodes in the CAN bus 340, may each include a central processing unit(CPU), a CAN controller, and/or a transceiver.

The TCU 318 can be configured to provide vehicle connectivity towireless computing systems onboard and offboard the vehicle 100 and isconfigurable for wireless communication between the vehicle 100 andother systems, computers, servers, RSUs 104, vehicles 112, 114, 116,118, and modules. For example, the TCU 318 may communicate whether avehicle is manually driven or autonomous.

For example, the TCU 318 includes a Navigation (NAV) system 330 forreceiving and processing a GPS signal from a GPS 332, a Bluetooth®Low-Energy Module (BLEM) 334, a Wi-Fi transceiver, an Ultra-Wide Band(UWB) transceiver, and/or other wireless transceivers described infurther detail below for using near field communication (NFC) protocols,Bluetooth® protocols, Wi-Fi, Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), and other possibledata connection and sharing techniques.

The TCU 318 may include wireless transmission and communication hardwarethat may be disposed in communication with one or more transceiversassociated with telecommunications towers and other wirelesstelecommunications infrastructure. For example, the BLEM 334 may beconfigured and/or programmed to receive messages from, and transmitmessages to, one or more cellular towers associated with atelecommunication provider, and/or and a Telematics Service DeliveryNetwork (SDN) associated with the vehicle 100 for coordinating vehiclefleet.

The BLEM 334 may establish wireless communication using Bluetooth® andBluetooth Low-Energy® communication protocols by broadcasting and/orlistening for broadcasts of small advertising packets, and establishingconnections with responsive devices that are configured according toembodiments described herein. For example, the BLEM 334 may includeGeneric Attribute Profile (GATT) device connectivity for client devicesthat respond to or initiate GATT commands and requests.

The RSU 104 and the TCU 318 may include radios configured to transmit(e.g., broadcast) and/or receive vehicle-to-everything (V2X) signalsbroadcast from another radio. Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC)is an implementation of a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) or acar-to-everything (CV2X) protocol. Any other suitable implementation ofV2X/C2X may also be used. Other names are sometimes used, usuallyrelated to a Connected Vehicle program or the like.

The RSU 104 and the TCU 318 may include radio frequency (RF) hardwareconfigured to transmit and/or receive signals, for example, using a2.4/5.8 GHz frequency band.

Communication technologies described above, such as CV2X, may becombined with other technologies, such as Visual Light Communications(VLC), Cellular Communications, and short-range radar, facilitating thecommunication of position, speed, heading, relative position to otherobjects, and the exchange of information with other vehicles 112, 114,116, 118, mobile devices, RSUs, or external computer systems.

External servers (e.g., servers 342) may be communicatively coupled withthe vehicle 100 and the RSU 104 via one or more network(s) 352, whichmay communicate via one or more wireless channel(s) 350.

The RSU 104 may be connected via direct communication (e.g., channel354) with the vehicle 100 using near field communication (NFC)protocols, Bluetooth® protocols, Wi-Fi, Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), and otherpossible data connection and sharing techniques.

The network(s) 352 illustrate example communication infrastructure inwhich the connected devices discussed in various embodiments of thisdisclosure may communicate. The network(s) 352 may be and/or include theInternet, a private network, public network or other configuration thatoperates using any one or more known communication protocols such as,for example, transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP),Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) standard 802.11, WiMAX (IEEE 802.16m), Ultra-Wide Band(UWB), and cellular technologies such as Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), High Speed Packet Access(HSPDA), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), and Fifth Generation (5G), Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and thelike.

The NAV system 330 may be configured and/or programmed to determine thevehicle location. The NAV system 330 may include a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receiver configured or programmed to triangulate thevehicle location relative to satellites or terrestrial based transmittertowers associated with the GPS 332. The NAV system 330 may determine andshare the vehicle location and receive locations such as the location ofthe other vehicles in the parking environment 102. The NAV system 330may receive and store in memory fixed locations such as the locations ofparking lot spaces in the parking environment 102.

The NAV system 330 may be further configured or programmed to developroutes from a current vehicle location to a selected destination,display a map and present directions to the selected destination, anddetermine an estimated time to travel to the selected location and apredicted time of arrival. The estimated time of arrival may be based onthe position, speed, and heading or other vehicle information determinedby the NAV system 330. The NAV system 330 may work with autonomousdriving systems to move the vehicle 100 to a location.

The BCM 312 generally includes an integration of sensors, vehicleperformance indicators, and variable reactors associated with vehiclesystems, and may include processor-based power distribution circuitrythat can control functions associated with the vehicle body such aslights, windows, security, door locks and access control, and variouscomfort controls. The BCM 312 may also operate as a gateway for bus andnetwork interfaces to interact with remote ECUs.

The BCM 312 may be configured for vehicle energy management, exteriorlighting control, wiper functionality, power window and doorfunctionality, heating ventilation and air conditioning systems, anddriver integration systems. In other aspects, the BCM 312 may controlauxiliary equipment functionality, and/or is responsible for integrationof such functionality.

The BCM 312 may coordinate any one or more functions from a wide rangeof vehicle functionality, including energy management systems, alarms,vehicle immobilizers, driver and rider access authorization systems,Phone-as-a-Key (PaaK) systems, driver assistance systems, AutonomousVehicle (AV) control systems, power windows, doors, actuators, and otherfunctionality, etc.

AV control systems (e.g., cruise control, lane changing, collisionavoidance, braking, steering, etc.) are configured to control vehicleoperating components (e.g., accelerator, brakes, steering wheel,transmission, etc.) to autonomously operate the vehicle 100 in theparking environment 102. AV control systems can change the configurationof vehicle operating components based on views received from perceptionchip 170. Changes to vehicle operating components can facilitatechanging speed or direction.

AV control systems may include the cameras 140, 150 and sensors 160 aswell as any number of devices configured or programmed to generatesignals that help navigate the vehicle 100 while the vehicle 100 isoperating in an autonomous (e.g., driverless) mode. For example, the BCM312 may coordinate autonomous driving operations based on data from theperception chip 170.

The vehicle 100 may be configured to operate in a fully autonomous(e.g., driverless) mode (e.g., level 5 autonomy) or in one or morepartial autonomy modes. Examples of partial autonomy modes are widelyunderstood in the art as autonomy Levels 1 through 5.

The memory 200 includes computer executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor 202, cause the processor 202 to performmethods for determining and adjusting a parking position. The vehicle100 determines where to park and whether to move the vehicle 100 tobetter position the vehicle 100 within the parking environment 102.

According to a first step 410 an exemplary method 400, the vehicle 100may initially determine if there is an unoccupied parking space in theparking environment 102 that allows the vehicle 100 to pull into theparking space in a forward direction 144 and to exit the parking spacein a forward direction 144. For example, if two aligned parking spaces120, 122 are unoccupied, the vehicle can drive from the lane 132 throughthe parking space 120, park in the parking space 122, and exit theparking space 122 into the lane 134.

To make this determination, the vehicle 100 may communicate with the RSU104 or other vehicles 112, 114, 116, 118 using a vehicle-to-everything(V2V, V2X) communication standard. Particularly, the vehicle 100 mayreceive parking environment data 106 pertaining to the parkingenvironment 102 including the locations of parking spaces and theoccupation status of the parking spaces (e.g., occupied, unoccupied).

According to a second step 420, if an unoccupied parking space accordingto the criteria of step 410 is not available, the vehicle 100 maydetermine if there is an unoccupied parking space in the parkingenvironment 102 with one or more longitudinally aligned parking spacesthat are occupied but are predicted to be unoccupied before the vehicle100 is predicted to exit or within a threshold amount of time.

To make this determination, the vehicle 100 may communicate with the RSU104 or other vehicles 112, 114, 116, 118 using a vehicle-to-everything(V2V, V2X) communication standard. Particularly, the vehicle 100 mayreceive parking environment data 106 pertaining to the parkingenvironment 102 including the locations of parking spaces, theoccupation status of parking spaces, the predicted status of parkingspaces (e.g., if occupied, time that paid parking will expire or basedon length of occupancy or driver history), and the type of vehicle(e.g., manually driven or autonomous vehicle) occupying a parking space.The data 106 may also include objects (e.g., trailers, generators,storage containers, etc.) that are permanent or not predicted to move orthe vehicle 100 may use object recognition features to identify suchobjects.

According to a third step 430, the vehicle 100 determines a lateralalignment for the vehicle 100 in the determined parking space. Forexample, the vehicle 100 determines if the laterally-adjacent parkingspaces are occupied and if the vehicle in each occupied space is anautonomous vehicle or a manually driven vehicle.

If both of laterally-adjacent parking spaces are occupied, and if one ofvehicles 116, 118 in laterally-adjacent parking spaces 126, 128 is anautonomous vehicle and the other of the vehicles 116, 118 is a manuallydriven vehicle, the vehicle 100 may align itself off-center in the firstparking space 120. In particular, the vehicle 100 may park closer (e.g.,offset from the longitudinal center of first parking space 120) to theautonomous vehicle to prevent damage from a person entering or exitingthe manually driven vehicle. Otherwise, the vehicle 100 may align itselfwith the longitudinal center of the parking space.

According to a fourth step 440, once parked in the determined parkingspace, the vehicle monitors the one or more occupied longitudinallyaligned parking spaces to determine when one of the one or morelongitudinally aligned parking spaces is unoccupied. To make thisdetermination, the vehicle 100 may communicate with the RSU 104 or othervehicles 112, 114, 116, 118 using a vehicle-to-everything (V2V, V2X)communication standard or may use vehicle systems including cameras 140,150 and or sensors 160 to perform object detection and/or localization.If using the V2X communication standard, the vehicle 100 may receiveparking environment data 106 including the locations of parking spaces,the occupation status of parking spaces, and the predicted status ofparking spaces.

According to a fifth step, when a monitored parking space is determinedto be unoccupied, the vehicle 100 generates instructions to autonomouslymove to the unoccupied parking space. For example, if the vehicle 100 isparked in the space 120 and the space 122 is unoccupied, the vehicle 100moves in the forward direction 144 to the space 122 and is thereafterpositioned to exit the space 122 in the forward direction 144 into thelane 134. Or, if the vehicle 100 is parked in the space 120 and thespace 124 is unoccupied, the vehicle 100 moves in the reverse direction154 to the space 124 and is thereafter positioned to exit the space 124in the forward direction 144 into the lane 132.

According to a sixth step 460, following the third step 430 (e.g., inparallel with the fourth step 440) and repeating aspects of the secondstep 420, the vehicle 100 determines if the laterally-adjacent parkingspaces are occupied and if the vehicle in each occupied space is anautonomous vehicle or a manually driven vehicle.

Again, if both of laterally-adjacent parking spaces are occupied, and ifone of vehicles 116, 118 in laterally-adjacent parking spaces 126, 128is an autonomous vehicle and the other of the vehicles 116, 118 is amanually driven vehicle, the vehicle 100 may confirm its off-centerposition or reposition itself to be off-center in the first parkingspace 120. In particular, the vehicle 100 may reposition itself to becloser (e.g., offset from the longitudinal center of first parking space120) to the autonomous vehicle to prevent damage from a person enteringor exiting the manually driven vehicle.

In the above disclosure, reference has been made to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part hereof, which illustrate specificimplementations in which the present disclosure may be practiced. It isunderstood that other implementations may be utilized, and structuralchanges may be made without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” “an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodimentdescribed may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include theparticular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrasesare not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when afeature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, one skilled in the art will recognize such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described.

It should also be understood that the word “example” as used herein isintended to be non-exclusionary and non-limiting in nature. Moreparticularly, the word “exemplary” as used herein indicates one amongseveral examples, and it should be understood that no undue emphasis orpreference is being directed to the particular example being described.

A computer-readable medium (also referred to as a processor-readablemedium) includes any non-transitory (e.g., tangible) medium thatparticipates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read bya computer (e.g., by a processor of a computer). Such a medium may takemany forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media andvolatile media. Computing devices may include computer-executableinstructions, where the instructions may be executable by one or morecomputing devices such as those listed above and stored on acomputer-readable medium.

With regard to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc.described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps ofsuch processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to acertain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with thedescribed steps performed in an order other than the order describedherein. It further should be understood that certain steps could beperformed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or thatcertain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, thedescriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose ofillustrating various embodiments and should in no way be construed so asto limit the claims.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description isintended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments andapplications other than the examples provided would be apparent uponreading the above description. The scope should be determined, not withreference to the above description, but should instead be determinedwith reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope ofequivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated andintended that future developments will occur in the technologiesdiscussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will beincorporated into such future embodiments. In sum, it should beunderstood that the application is capable of modification andvariation.

All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their ordinarymeanings as understood by those knowledgeable in the technologiesdescribed herein unless an explicit indication to the contrary is madeherein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,”“said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicatedelements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to the contrary.Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments could include, while other embodiments may not include,certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditionallanguage is not generally intended to imply that features, elements,and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: determining a first parkingspace in a parking environment that is unoccupied and that islongitudinally aligned with at least a second parking space, wherein thesecond parking space is occupied; generating instructions to park avehicle in the first parking space; parking the vehicle in the firstparking space; determining a lateral alignment of the vehicle in thefirst parking space based on one or more types of vehicles in parkingspaces that are laterally adjacent to the first parking space, wherein,if the one or more types of vehicles in the parking spaces that arelaterally adjacent to the first parking space include a manually-drivenvehicle and an autonomous vehicle, the lateral alignment of the vehicleis off-center, with more space between the manually-driven vehicle andthe vehicle, and less space between the autonomous vehicle and thevehicle; determining when the second parking space is unoccupied whilethe vehicle is parked in the first parking space; generatinginstructions to move the vehicle to the second parking space; andautonomously moving the vehicle to the second parking space.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining a predicted time inthe future when an occupancy status of the second parking space ispredicted to be unoccupied.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisingdetermining that the predicted time in the future is less than apredetermined threshold time.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein theoccupancy status of the second parking space is determined based on animage from a camera and a measurement from a sensor.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein, if the second parking space is in a forward directionfrom the first parking space, the vehicle moves to the second parkingspace in the forward direction.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein, ifthe second parking space is in a reverse direction from the firstparking space, the vehicle moves to the second parking space in thereverse direction.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining if the parking environment includes an unoccupied parkingspace that would allow the vehicle to pull into the unoccupied parkingspace in a forward direction and to exit the unoccupied parking space inthe forward direction.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprisingdetermining if the parking environment includes two longitudinallyaligned unoccupied parking spaces.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving parking environment data including at least one oflocations of parking spaces, occupancy statuses of the parking spaces,and predicted occupancy statuses of the parking spaces.
 10. A vehiclesystem, comprising: a processor; a memory comprising: parkingenvironment data including at least one of locations of parking spaces,occupancy statuses of the parking spaces, predicted occupancy statusesof the parking spaces, and types of vehicles occupying the parkingspaces; and computer executable instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to: determine a first parking space in aparking environment that is unoccupied and that is longitudinallyaligned with at least a second parking space, wherein the second parkingspace is occupied; generate instructions to park a vehicle in the firstparking space, wherein the instructions comprise determining a lateralalignment of the vehicle in the first parking space based on one or moretypes of vehicles in parking spaces that are laterally adjacent to thefirst parking space, and wherein, if the one or more types of vehiclesin the parking spaces that are laterally adjacent to the first parkingspace include a manually-driven vehicle and an autonomous vehicle, thelateral alignment of the vehicle is off-center, with more space betweenthe manually-driven vehicle and the vehicle, and less space between theautonomous vehicle and the vehicle; park the vehicle in the firstparking space; determine when the second parking space is unoccupiedwhile the vehicle is parked in the first parking space; and generateinstructions to move the vehicle to the second parking space; andautonomously move the vehicle to the second parking space.
 11. Thevehicle system of claim 10, wherein the instructions comprisedetermining a predicted time in the future when an occupancy status ofthe second parking space is predicted to be unoccupied.
 12. The vehiclesystem of claim 11, wherein the instructions further comprisedetermining that the predicted time in the future is less than apredetermined threshold time.
 13. The vehicle system of claim 10,further comprising a camera and a sensor, and wherein the instructionscomprise determining an occupancy status of the second parking spacebased on an image from the camera and a measurement from the sensor. 14.The vehicle system of claim 10, wherein, if the second parking space isin a forward direction from the first parking space, the instructionscomprise moving the vehicle to the second parking space in the forwarddirection.
 15. The vehicle system of claim 10, wherein, if the secondparking space is in a reverse direction from the first parking space,the instructions comprise moving the vehicle to the second parking spacein the reverse direction.
 16. The vehicle system of claim 10, whereinthe instructions comprise determining if the parking environmentincludes two longitudinally aligned unoccupied parking spaces.